This patent relates to methods of folding informational items which have printed information, such as instructions and/or warnings, relating to pharmaceutical products.
Informational items, such as outserts, are used to convey information to purchasers and users of pharmaceutical products. The information printed on an outsert typically includes instructions for use of a pharmaceutical product and medical warnings relating to the product. The outsert typically accompanies the product, such as by being affixed directly to the container in which the pharmaceutical product is provided or by being enclosed within a cardboard carton in which the pharmaceutical container is packaged.
A method of forming outserts is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,195 to Michael Vijuk. In that patent, outserts are manufactured by folding a relatively long sheet a number of times in a direction perpendicular to the length of the sheet and then cutting the folded sheet a number of times in a direction perpendicular to the folding direction to make a number of individual outserts. The result of the folding and cutting steps is a “ribbon” style outsert like the one shown in FIG. 1B.
FIG. 1A illustrates an example of an outsert 10 constructed in accordance with the prior art which has open edges 12 about its periphery. FIG. 1B illustrates a conventional ribbon style outsert 14 constructed in accordance with the prior art. The outsert 14 has a tail portion 16 which, prior to opening of the outsert by the purchaser of the associated pharmaceutical product, is glued to an interior portion of the outsert. The tail portion 16 consists of a single sheet having an unfolded, exterior sheet edge which lies in a direction parallel to the folding direction.